Time-piece of improved readability in darkness

ABSTRACT

In a time-piece dial wherein the hands as well as one or more of the indicia are marked with luminous paint, readability in darkness is improved by using paints luminescing in different colors for each of the two hands and by distinguishing at least one of the markers from the remainder of the markers through the use of suitable luminescent paints.

United States Patent [191 Kishida 1 3,744,236 [451 July 10,1973

[ TIME-PIECE OF IMPROVED READABILITY IN DARKNESS [75] Inventor: Motoki Kishida, Okaya, Japan [73] Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Suwa Seikosha,

Tokyo, Japan [22] Filed: Dec. 22, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 210,817

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data' Dec. 24, 1970 Japan 45/129836 [52] US. Cl. 58/50 A, 58/126 R [51] Int. Cl. G04b 19/30 [58] Field of Search 58/50 R, 50 A, 125 B,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,431,721 3/1969 Slaugh 58/50 R 2,680,813 6/1954 Doyle 58/50 R 3,439,492 4/1969 Gravenson 523/50 R Primary Examiner-Richard B. Wilkinson Assistant ExaminerEdith C. Simmons Jackmon Attorney- Alex Friedman, Harold 1. Kaplan and James K. Silberman et al.

[ 5 7 ABSTRACT In a time-piece dial wherein the hands as well as one or more of the indicia are marked with luminous paint, readability in darkness is improved by using paints luminescing in different colors for each of the two hands and by distinguishing at least one of the markers from the remainder of the markers through the use of suitable luminescent paints.

5 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure TIME-PIECE OF IMPROVED READABILITY IN DARKNESS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the conventional method of preparing a watch to be readable in darkness, paint of a single color may be applied to the indicia of the dial as well as to the hands. Where a paint luminescing in one color is used, it is difficult to distinguish the positions of 12 oclock and 6 oclock from each other. Moreover, it may be difficult to distinguish the hour hand from the minute hand where the hands are distinguished on the basis of the area of each covered with luminous paint.

One method of coping with this difficulty has been to make the twelve oclock marker or the three oclock marker larger than the remainder; another method has been to mark all of the 12 positions on the dial with luminous paint. However, where a single paint is used it is difficult to read the dial quickly and with certainty, and appearance of the dial and hands is not particularly attractive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention, at least one of the indicia, such as that at the 12 oclock position or at the 3 oclock position is marked with a color different from that used on the remainder of the indicia. Moreover, the hour and the minute hand are marked with paints which luminesce with colors different from each other. In addition, the paints .on the two hands may differ from the paints used on the indicia.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a time-piece of improved readability in darkness.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a time-piece of improved readability in darkness where the improvement stems from the use of a plurality of paints on the hands and indicia of the time-piece, each paint luminescing in a different color.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a time-piece of improved readability in darkness where the improvements stem from the use of a luminescent paint on a marker at the twelve position, none of the other indicia being formed of the same paint.

Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification.

The invention accordingly comprises an article of manufacture possessing the features, properties, and the relation of elements which will be exemplified in the article hereinafter described, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING For a fuller understanding of the invention, reference is had to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

The single FIGURE shows the dial and hands of a time-piece wherein a plurality of paints luminescing in different colors are used to mark the hands and the dial indicia.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the embodiment shown in the single FIGURE, the indicia at the 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 6 oclock and 9 oclock positions are formed of a paint luminescing in a first color, the remaining indicia are formed of a paint luminescing in a second color, the hour hand is marked with a paint luminescing in a third color and the minute hand is marked with a paint luminescing in a fourth color. Using this type of arrangement, it is simple to determine in darkness what the time is, regardless of the orientation of the dial.

As is obvious, a large number of variations of the above scheme is possible. As an example, the marker at the 12 position could be formed of the paint luminescing in a first color, the markers at the remaining positions could be formed of a paint luminescing in a second color, the hour hand could be marked with one of these two colors and the minute hand could be marked with the other of these two colors.

The same scheme can be applied to the second hand which should be painted in a different color from those used on the hour and minute hands.

As is evident, readability of a time-piece in darkness can be improved by marking the hands with colors different from each other and forming the indicia of luminous paints of any number of paints luminescing in different colors so long as it is possible to distinguish at least one of the markers. In general, it is preferable that the marker at the 12 oclock position differ from most or all of the other markers with respect to color.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above article without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

What is claimed is:

l. A watch-face of improved readability in darkness comprising markers formed by a plurality of luminescent paints, each paint producing a different color, and time-indicating hands comprising an hour hand and a minute hand cooperating with said markers to indicate the hour and the minute each of said hands having thereon a paint luminescing in a color different from the other.

2. A watch-face as defined in claim 1, wherein the marker at the 12 position is painted to luminesce in a first color, the remaining markers are painted to luminesce in a second color, the hour hand is painted to luminesce in one of said first and second colors, and the minute hand is painted to luminesce in the other of said first and second colors.

3. A watch-face as defined in claim 1, wherein said marker at said 12 position is painted to luminesce in a first color, the markers at the remaining positions from one to 11 are painted to luminesce in a second color, said hour hand is painted to luminesce in a third color and said minute hand is painted to luminesce in a fourth color.

4. A watch-face as defined in claim 3, wherein a second hand is painted to luminesce in a fifth color.

5. A watch-face as defined in claim 1, whereinmarkers at the three, six, nine and 12 positions are painted to luminesce in a first color, and markers at the remaining positions are painted to luminesce in a second color.

I k I 

1. A watch-face of improved readability in darkness comprising markers formed by a plurality of luminescent paints, each paint producing a different color, and time-indicating hands comprising an hour hand and a minute hand cooperating with said markers to indicate the hour and the minute each of said hands having thereon a paint luminescing in a color different from the other.
 2. A watch-face as defined in claim 1, wherein the marker at the 12 position is painted to luminesce in a first color, the remaining markers are painted to luminesce in a second color, the hour hand is painted to luminesce in one of said first and second colors, and the minute hand is painted to luminesce in the other of said first and second colors.
 3. A watch-face as defined in claim 1, wherein said marker at said 12 position is painted to luminesce in a first color, the markers at the remaining positions from one to 11 are painted to luminesce in a second color, said hour hand is painted to luminesce in a third color and said minute hand is painted to luminesce in a fourth color.
 4. A watch-face as defined in claim 3, wherein a second hand is painted to luminesce in a fifth color.
 5. A watch-face as defined in claim 1, wherein markers at the three, six, nine and 12 positions are painted to luminesce in a first color, and markers at the remaining positions are painted to luminesce in a second color. 